Archives by Tag 'Agility Training'

The 2012-2013 basketball season is fast approaching, which means it’s perfect time for players to get working on improving their speed, quickness, and agility.

In this week’s player development feature, follow along with renowned strength and conditioning expert Alan Stein as he leads you through nearly a dozen speed and quickness drills that are easy to implement, specifically geared toward basketball players, and extremely effective.

Overview and Tips

Speed is moving from point A to B as fast as possible, such as the full length of a basketball court. But it’s not just about a full sprint. It’s important to be able to back pedal and side sprint at full speed as well. The goal of these drills is to improve player speed. It’s not to focus on running mechanics and technique. Therefore, put more focus on effort and practice running as fast as you can.

Tips: Make sure your ankles, knees, hips, and shoulders are facing the direction you are sprinting. Also, keep your arms at 90 degrees and generate movement from the shoulder, not the elbow. Have a slight forward lean when you have reached full speed and look straight ahead. Ensure plenty of recovery time between reps.

Speed Drills: Part I

Drill 1: Speed Progression: Slow to Medium to Fast Progression – Start by running to the first set of cones slow, then medium to the next set, and then fast to the last cone. Have the cones set 10 yards apart down the length of the court.

Drill 2: Speed Progression: Change Tempo – Basketball features a lot of change in tempo. Therefore in this drill, work on going slow to fast to slow to fast.

Drill 3 and Drill 4: Slow to Medium to Fast: Backpedal – These are basically the same two drills as before but now you will be going backwards. Keep the chest over the knees and over the feet going back.

Speed Drills: Part II

Drill 5: Sprint to Backpedal – It’s key that you are able to change direction at full speed. Start in a sprint and then when you get to first set of cones, turn into a backpedal before peeling off.

Drill 6: Backpedal to Sprint – Now it’s just the reverse of the previous drill

Drill 7: Sprint to Backpedal X 2 – Now things get harder by making this transition every time we reach a set of cones. So the rep will be sprint to backpedal to sprint to backpedal.

Drill 8: Sprint to Right Shoulder Look Back – It’s important that players are always able to make a side run at full speed. Have your shoulders square in one direction while running a different way. The drill goes from a forward sprint to looking back over the right shoulder.

Drill 9: Sprint to Left Shoulder Look Back – This drill is the same as before, but now you are looking over the left soulder.

Drill 10: Right to Left to Right to Left – Every time you hit a set of cones, look over a different shoulder.

Drill 11: Sprint to Deceleration X 3 – Sprint and as you reach a new cone, decelerate until you come to a full stop. Do that at each cone series. Keep your hips nice and low.

In this week’s edition of All Access, we take you back to Evanston, Illinois for a behind-the-scenes look at a Northwestern University women’s lacrosse practice.

Follow along as the Wildcats begin with a high-intensity training session in the gym that includes rapid-fire agility moves and boxing. The practice finishes up on the lacrosse field as head coach Kelly Amonte Hiller leads her squad through multi-purpose drills focusing on feeds from behind the net.

The Wildcats secured their seventh national championship in the last eight years back on May 27 with a comeback victory over Syracuse.

Boxing Workouts

We begin with a typical Northwestern team training session as the squad gets warmed up with indoor agility and conditioning drills. Players jog indoors while alternating moves like cariocas, skips, air punches, and floor touches. The team eventually moves into a round of boxing training using gloves and punchbags.

Feeding from Behind the Net

Next, the team moves indoors for feeding, cutting, and shooting drills. These effective drills incorporate every position on the field and replicate typical game scenarios.

The Set-Up: Two feeders will be positioned behind the cage, two defenders will set up on the crease, and two lines of offensive players will be positioned up top.

The Action: Feeders will scoop up a ball and come around a side of the cage where they will be met by a defender. The feeder should look to pass to the opposite-side offensive player cutting in for a catch and shoot opportunity. Work on making in-and-out movements, leaving room for the stick, curling away from defenders, and making an accurate feed.

Tips: Shooters must time their cuts and this takes great practice. Remember to have patience until your teammates are ready to make the feed. Also, when you catch the pass, leave yourself a good angle to put the shot away.

Meanwhile, defenders should wait for the feeders to move before going out and pressuring them. Don’t get there too early.25

The previous clips can be seen on Championship Productions’ DVD “All Access Northwestern Lacrosse Practice.” To check out the latest All Access videos, click here. Recent videos feature the Stanford and Syracuse lacrosse programs.

With many programs starting up preseason practices in the coming weeks, it’s important that players are working on a preseason conditioning program to get back in shape and to prepare for the rigors of a long season.

Agility is crucial for a lacrosse player, especially when it comes to cutting, dodging, changing direction, and changing pace of play. Follow along with Syracuse University Strength & Conditioning Olympic Sports Director Veronica Dyeras she leads you through a number of agility workouts that are particularly effective for lacrosse players. Whether it’s five minutes or a half-hour every day, look to implement agility training into your preseason regimen this year.

Agility Overview

At the beginning of the year, Dyer likes to make sure that players have a solid, general base of fitness. At Syracuse, athletes will do some kind of agility training every day, whether its five or 25 minutes. First, always trying to challenge your players and really work on cutting, change of direction, and change of pace. Players must be agile to get away from defenders and outrun opponents. This is a huge part of their game.

Cone Drills

This can be used as a warm-up or as part of an agility training session. All you need is one cone. Players will start by moving around the cone in a clockwise direction. Make quick choppy steps and look to get around the cone as quickly as you can. Switch directions.

Next, start behind the cone. Hop forward and back over the cone with both legs together. Go quickly when you hop forward and back. Then switch to side-to-side. After this, switch to using just one leg. Start with the right leg going forward and back over the cone. Then switch to side-to-side, working on lateral motion. Finish by going with the left foot for both.

*Note: Lateral drills can help strengthen ankles.

Finally, it’s time for straddles. Place your feet on each side of the cone and a little bit more than shoulder-width apart. You will jump, turn, and spin, ultimately facing the other direction. Go about five times like this before switching directions. The object here is to land solid on your feet and establish a good ready position.

“T” Drill

The “T” Drill is a combo of sprinting, shuffling, and backpedaling. You can use any combination of these in general. Work on sharp shutting here and getting that mobility of changing directions in quick fashion. Set up four cones in a “T” pattern, all about five yards apart. Each player will start with a sprint to the middle cone, then shuffle to the left cone and touch the cone, sprint to the far right cone and touch, shuffle to the middle cone, and then backpedal to the beginning. Start again immediately once you get back to the start.

Key: Be sharp and distinct with all movements.

“M” Drill

Set the cones up in a “M” pattern. You can do any combo you’d like, but try this one to start. Begin at the lower left cone. Start by sprinting straight up, shuffle to the middle, pivot and shuffle to the top right, then backpedal to the lower right. Walk back over to the start and repeat. Once done the second time, start again but reversing the motions.

Key: Give 100% effort on each rep. Remember, you want to train the way you want to perform.

Box Drill

Set up the cones in a simple box formation. Here, let’s sprint, shuffle, backpedal, and shuffle to the start. Then reverse the direction.